What will happen to Cersei?

Potential Spoilers Below

What will happen to Cersei?

Cersei Lannister

I think the clues can be found in The Wheel of Time (TWOT)

TWOT:  Who is Elaida?

Elaida

Elaida is an Aes Sedai in TWOT who has the rare Talent of Foretelling.  She makes two significant fortellings.  One being that the royal line of Andor was to be critical to the Last Battle.  The other was her Black Tower Foretelling.  Later within the series she become the Amyrlin Seat, the highest position within their world.  Below are several quotes taken from the book that draw a picture as to Elaida’s character:

Aes Sedai of the White Ajah

Several sisters tried to speak, but Alviarin brushed past, barely polite, hardly noticing worry bloom in their eyes when she refused to pause. Elaida filled her mind as much as theirs. A woman of many layers, Elaida. The first look at her showed a beautiful woman filled with dignified reserve, the second a woman of steel, stern as a bared blade. She overwhelmed where others persuaded, bludgeoned where others tried diplomacy or the Game of Houses. Anyone who knew her saw her intelligence, but only after a time did you realize that for all her brains, she saw what she wanted to see, would try to make true what she wanted to be true. Of the two indisputably frightening things about her, the lesser was that she so often succeeded. The greater was her Talent for Foretelling.

A sudden flash of irritation swept Elaida like fire in dry pasture. The fate of the world in her hands, and petty stumbling blocks kept rising beneath her feet. Bad enough that she had rebels and recalcitrant rulers to handle, but too many Sitters still brooded and grumbled behind her back, fertile ground for the other woman to plow. Only six were firmly under her own thumb, and she suspected as many at least listened closely to Alviarin before they voted. Certainly nothing of importance passed through the Hall unless Alviarin agreed to it. Not open agreement, not with any acknowledgment that Alviarin bore a shred more influence or power than a Keeper should, but if Alviarin opposed... At least they had not gone so far as to reject anything Elaida sent them. They simply dragged their feet and too often let what she wanted starve on the floor. A pitifully small thing for which to be happy. Some Amyrlins had become little more than puppets once the Hall acquired a taste for rejecting what they put forward.

“She strode to the nearest window and stood staring down toward where her fantastical palace would rise to overtop the Tower itself. Eventually. If sisters could be convinced to work on it again. The heavy rain that had begun during the night was still falling, and it seemed unlikely she could see anything of that palace’s foundations, all that had been completed so far. “Help yourself to wine if you wish.”

“Have we chosen an Amyrlin who is so power-hungry, she’s ordered the construction of her own palace? A woman who has every sister wondering if she’ll be the next to be stripped of the shawl?”

“Elaida knew. She knew that Meidani was a spy, and yet she still invited the woman to dinner. To play with her.

“Hurry up, girl,” Elaida snapped at Egwene.”

Meidani and Elaida were pillow friends when they grew up together as girls.  Essentially they were lesbian lovers growing up.  She knew that Meidani was a spy for Egwene’s split White Tower so she basically toyed with the woman every chance she got.

“You may not,” Elaida cut in harshly. She took another long drink, draining her goblet, and glided across the carpet to refill it. She drank too much, of late. Tarna had even seen her drunk once!"

The Black Tower Fortelling:

"The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole and stronger then ever. Rand al'Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds. This I Foretell."  —Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan

There comes a point in the story where Elaida is essentially stripped of her power by Alviarin an Aes Sedai who turns out to be Black Ajah.  Alviarin blackmails Elaida with all the blunders she had made trying to keep it secret from her sitters.  Elaida later regains power by stripping Alviarin of her position as Keeper of the Chronicles.

ASOIAF:  Who is Cersei?

Cersei is a character that people love to hate.  She thinks that her way is the best way and those who stand in her way are obstacles to be uprooted and pushed aside.  She believes in prophecies because as a child she was given one that seemed enigmatic but as time has revealed it seems to be coming to fruition.  Fear of those prophecies coming true has her scheming to prevent the things she see’s unfolding.  So exactly what was she told and by whom? 

When she was a young girl she demanded that a sorceress named Maggy the Frog, living on her father’s lands, give her a foretelling.  Maggy three times tried to tell her to leave but Cersei being Cersei threatened to have her whipped by her father if she refused.  Upon agreeing to foretell her future she told her that “Three questions may your ask” but told her that “You will not like my answers.  Ask, or begone with you.”  So the following were asked and answered:

Maggy the Frog

       Q1: “When will I wed the prince?”

       A1: “Never.  You will wed the king.”

       Q2: “I will be queen, though?”

       A2: “Aye.  Queen you shall be…until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear.”

       Q3: “Will the king and I have children?”

       A3: “Oh, aye.  Six-and-ten for him, and three for you.”

The last made no sense to Cersei.  She wanted to know how that could be but she was done with her questions.  The old woman however was not done with her and proceeded to tell her that “Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds.  And when your tears have drowned you, the valonquar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Anyone who has read the books or who has watched the TV show knows that the “Small Council” has always been a source of irritation to Cersei.  She tries to stack the deck with those who are loyal to her but she always has to deal with those who oppose her.  This is very similar to the Sitters whom Elaida has to deal with.  Also if you have been paying attention you know that Cersei has also turned to alcohol to deal with what she perceives as slights against her.

The Small Council

Cersei also has aspirations of building herself a new palace:

“Would that we could do the same to the rest of this foul castle,” said Cersei. “After the war I mean to build a new palace beyond the river.” She had dreamed of it the night before last, a magnificent white castle surrounded by woods and gardens, long leagues from the stinks and noise of King’s Landing. “This city is a cesspit. For half a groat I would move the court to Lannisport and rule the realm from Casterly Rock.”

Lannisport

Casterly Rock

TWOT: Consequences:  The results of the fortelling:

Elaida’s first fortelling about the royal line of Andor may have been misinterpreted based upon the fact that she overlooked everyone with the exception of Elayne Trakand within the royal line simply because Elayne was on her way to becoming an Aes Sedai whom she thought she could control.

Elayne Trakand

The Black Tower Fortelling broken down:

"The White Tower will be whole again,..."

Fulfilled - Egwene al'Vere was successful in becoming Amyrlin Seat in the White Tower, deposing Elaida and reuniting it with the rebels.

"...except for remnants cast out and scorned,..."

Fulfilled - Egwene al'Vere, through the efforts of Verin Mathwin, captured and beheaded many of the Black Ajah sisters in both the rebel camp and the White Tower, and those not captured fled.

Verin Mathwin

"...whole and stronger then ever."

Fulfilled - Egwene's deeds as Amyrlin arguably reforged the tower significantly stronger than it was, especially during the regime of her predecessor, Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan. Egwene, Elayne Trakand, and Nynaeve al'Meara are three of the most powerful Aes Sedai of their time, and many recruits display similar strength. Also, Egwene forged new alliances with the Aiel, the Atha'an Miere, the Kin, and with the Black Tower and opened the novice book to all ages. The latter would increase the numbers in the White Tower in hundreds.

Aiel

Atha'an Miere

"Rand al'Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger."

Fulfilled - Rand al'Thor "knew the Amyrlin Seat's anger" when he confronts her on the Field of Merrilor and she attempts to stop him from destroying the remaining seals of the Dark One's prison. – Again this was accomplished by Egwene and not Elaida

The Dark One

"The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire,..."

Fulfilled - The Asha'man loyal to Mazrim Taim battle those loyal to Logain Ablar and Rand.

Pevera Sedai became engaged in a battle with the renegade Asha'man.

The Black Tower was torn apart by fighting and many died in the Last Battle.

Asha'men

"...and sisters will walk its grounds."

Fulfilled... If not directly after the "rending", sisters have been bonded to various Ash'aman and walk the grounds of the Black Tower. – The bonding of sisters, sent by Elaida, by Ash’aman was considered a colossal blunder by Elaida’s White Tower

Elaida simply misinterpreted the foretellings seeing only what she wanted to see and stumbled head or heals into situations that could have been avoided.  She also sent Sisters from her White Tower to capture the Dragon Reborn which led to his eventual escape and leading the Sisters to pledge fealty to him.  Cadsuane an Aes Sedai who would become advisor to the Dragon Reborn made the following comments after Elaida’s misguided attempt to take him prisoner:

Cadsuane

Cadsuane snorted. “They deserve whatever happens to them.” She had not been allowed near the Aiel tents herself, nor had any of her companions, but some of the fools who had sworn fealty to the al’Thor boy had ventured out to the sprawling encampment and come back whitefaced and torn between outrage and sicking up. Normally, she also would have been furious over the affront to Aes Sedai dignity, whatever the circumstances; not now. To achieve her goal, she would have run the entire White Tower through the streets naked. How could she concern herself with the discomfort of women who might have ruined everything?

This is why I believe that Cersei had to undergo the walk of shame through the streets of Kings Landing.

ASOIAF: Consequences:  The results of the prophecy:

As the years passed she saw events that Maggy the Frog foretold coming to be.  She didn’t marry Rhaegar the Crown Prince as she had always believed but Robert the King who slew Rhaegar in battle.  She saw Robert being unfaithful having the 16 children by other women and she knew that her 3 children were not his but by her brother Jaime.  One more important thing you need to know is that “valonquar” is High Valyrian for “little brother.”  So knowing this you can see why she hates Tyrion believing one day he would kill her.  So what does she do?  She sets about trying to circumvent the prophecies by taking matters into her own hands. She plotted to eliminate Robert and seize control of the seven kingdoms for herself.  She succeeds in getting rid of Robert by manipulating her cousin Lancel by sleeping with him.  He gets Robert so drunk during a boar hunt that he is gored to death but it snowballed and that led to the War of the Five Kings.  That in turn leads to King Joffrey having to take Margaery as a wife to stabilize the kingdom militarily and feed the people who are starving.  Joffrey is poisoned at his wedding and Cersei see’s that her children are indeed dying and she needs to stop this from happening.  She truly believed that Tyrion killed Joffrey and tried rigging the trial so that he would be beheaded and thus getting rid of the “valonquar” threat.  Tyrion escapes his death sentence but not before he sent her daughter Myrcella to Dorne where Cersei can’t protect her in her eyes.  Margaery in Cercei’s eyes is the younger more beautiful queen who is to take all that she holds dear.  This in turns leads her to try removing Margaery from the picture so she once again starts plotting.  She hashes a plan that will implicate her with committing adultery (books), lying in the TV show.  This seemed to be working out as she had the old High Septon killed and replaced in the books, excommunicating/imprisoning/replacing him in the TV show thinking she had yet another puppet whose strings she could manipulate.

Rhaegar Targaryen

King Robert

Jaime

Tyrion

Lancel

War of the Five Kings

King Joffrey

Queen Margaery

Myrcella

In the books Myrcella loses an ear and has a hideous facial scar unbeknown to Cersei.  In the TV show she dies after Jaime tried to bring her back from Dorne.  Cersei in the books has a plot that involves making Tyrion the scapegoat yet again which she hopes will expedite his capture/death.  She intends to kill Prince Trystane, who Myrcella is to marry, on the trip back from Dorne and blame it on Tyrion saying he was spotted on the road that they were to take back to Kings Landing.  Since Myrcella is destined to die and she has already in the TV show it is easy to see Cersei’s plans backfiring yet again ending up with Myrcella dead.  That would leave her one remaining child Tommen so how may he meet his death.  Believe it or not the deaths of Robert and Joffery were plotted out in TWOT almost 3 years before the first ASOIAF book was published and it has a clue to how Tommen may meet his end.

Prince Trystane

King Tommen

The two men exchanged those irritating looks, and Ragan said quietly, “You don't understand, Nynaeve. Alliandre is the fourth to sit on the Light Blessed Throne since we came to Ghealdan, and that's barely half a year. Johanin wore the crown when Masema began attracting a few crowds, but he thought Masema a harmless madman and did nothing even when the crowds grew and his nobles told him he had to put an end to it. Johanin died in a hunting accident —”

Ragan

Masema

“Hunting accident!” Uno interjected, sneering. A hawker who happened to be looking at him dropped his tray of pins and needles. “Not unless he didn't know one bloody end of a flaming boar spear from the other. Flaming southlanders and their flaming Game of Houses!” “And Ellizelle succeeded,” Ragan took up. “She had the army dispersing the crowds, until finally there was a pitched battle and it was the army that was chased off.”

“Bloody poor excuse for soldiers,” Uno muttered. She was going to have to speak to him about his language again.

Ragan nodded agreement, but went on with what he had been saying. “They say Ellizelle took poison after that, but however she died, she was replaced by Teresia, who lasted a full ten days after her coronation, just until she had a chance to send two thousand soldiers against ten thousand folk who had gathered to hear Masema outside Jehannah.

Masema was a religious fanatic following the Dragon Reborn.  So using TWOT as a guide it would seem that Tommen will be killed by sending his armies against a religious fanatic who outnumber him badly.  Wait Cersei already put that in place when she brought back the Faith Militant and all his Sparrows.  The TV show has already shown us a glimpse of this when Margaery refers to the Sparrows as fanatics during her converstation with Tommen.  Tommen hints at this when he says he will use his armies to free Margaery in his converstation with Cersei.

TWOT: So what happened to Elaida?

“She reached up, dazed, feeling the collar at her throat. There was a dark figure riding in the saddle next to her; no lanterns lit the woman’s face, but Elaida could feel her somehow. Elaida could just barely remember spending time dangling in the air, tied to a rope, as she fell in and out of consciousness. When had she been pulled up? What was happening?

A voice whispered from the night. “I shall forgive that little mistake. You haven’t been marath’damane for very long, and bad habits are to be expected. But you will not reach for the Source again without permission. Do you understand?”

“Release me!” Elaida bellowed.

The pain returned tenfold, and Elaida retched at the intensity of it. Her bile and sick-up fell over the side of the beast and dropped far to the ground below.

“Now, now,” the voice said, patient, like a woman speaking to a very young child. “You must learn. Your name is Suffa. And Suffa will be a good damane. Yes she will. A very, very good damane.”

Elaida screamed again, and this time, she didn’t stop when the pain came. She just kept screaming out into the uncaring night.”

In the end Elaida was replaced as Amrylin by Egwene who turned out to be the youngest to be put into that position ever.  When Egwene was captured by Elaida she was beaten everyday to try and break her will.  In the end Egwene withstood everything that Elaida put upon her.  Another thing you have to know about Aes Sedai is that being cut off from the One Power is worse than death.  And those who are burned out as a result of drawing too much of the power or who are stilled often loses the will to live.  You also have to know that there are a group known as the Seanchan who collar women who can wield the One Power and turn them into damane by placing an a’dam around their necks and take away the power to wield the One Power without permission of the Sul’dam.  Sul’dam control damane and leash them like dogs.

Seanchan soldier

Sul'dam and Damane with a'dam around her neck

Sul'dam and Damane with a'dam around her neck

In the end Elaida was captured by the Seanchan because she overlooked what Egwene had told her about the White Tower being attacked by the Seanchan.  She was collared and remained the property of the Seanchen presumably until she died.  To an Aes Sedai this is a fate worse than death because being a damane you can’t take your own life even if you wanted to.  You are enslaved forever.

ASOIAF: So what will be the end result?

At this point in the story I believe that Margaery won’t be killed but will be in such a state politically that her threat to Cersei will be eliminated.  Even with her walk of shame and the loss of all her children Cersei will wrestle power back for herself and still believes that she can rule the Seven Kingdoms.  In the background however Sansa Stark will have made her own political moves possibly marrying Willas Tyrell and putting herself in line for becoming the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.  I will elaborate on that more in another post.  Remember Sansa was beaten within the walls of Kings Landing at the hands of Joffrey similar to how Egwene was also beaten within the White Tower.  Word of Sansa reaches Cersei and she begins to realize that Margaery was never the threat to begin with.  She will begin to see that everything that has befallen her is of her own making and she does what she always does and lashes out yet once again.  I believe that Jaime will have made his way back to Kings Landing at this point as well as the true war that the world at this point is fighting.  Jaime will be put in the same situation that he was faced with when he was a Kingsguard for the Mad King Aerys.  I believe that Cersei will have placed wildfire strategically around the city the same as the Mad King and Jaime will be in the same position to prevent it.  However this time with it being Cersei he won’t be able to do what has to be done.  While he is trying to talk her down from carrying out her plans I believe that she will kill Jaime.  While he is dying in her arms she will begin to realize that she has indeed lost everything and she breaks down crying hysterically. 

Walk of Shame

Sansa

Mad King Aerys

So what about the “valonquar”?  Tyrion I believe will become the General to the armies of the world at this point and I will elaborate more on that in another post.  So does that mean that Cersei has escaped her ultimate fate as foretold by Maggy the Frog?  No.  What do we know about Jaime and Cersei?  They are twins but what else.  Cersei told the following to Ned Stark:  “We are one person in two bodies.  We shared a womb together.  He came into this world holding my foot, our old maester said.”  She also said this when talking to Qyburn: We will leave this world together, as we once came into it.  “He will not lose.  Not Jaime.  Not with my life at stake.”  So what does this tell us?  Jaime is also Cersei’s little brother or “valonquar.”  What do we know about people who die in this world right now.  Yep, they come back to life.  So as Cersei drowns in her tears Jaime opens his eyes which are now bluer than blue and reaches up and wraps his hands gold one included around her pale white throat and chokes the life from her.  Cersei ends up being right for once in that both her and Jaime both leave this world together.

Ned Stark

Qyburn

It’s not hard to see how Elaida being made a damane having the a’dam placed around her neck is similar to Cersei having the life choked from her by the valonquar.  Elaida was replaced by the younger Egwene similar to how I believe that Cersei will be replaced by Sansa.

I don’t know if it will be significant to the plot but will Taena Merryweather be brought back to Kings Landing to act as a spy against Cersei maybe by Sansa.  Remember Cersei and Taena had a brief lesbian relationship during her stay at Kings Landing.

You also have to know that the Amyrlin Seat is referred to as Mother and the women of the White Tower are referred to to as Sisters.  When Rand was captured he escaped during The Battle of Dumai's Wells.  During the fight some the Sisters who were holding the shield on him had to go engage in the fight that was escalating leaving only three.  He was then able to break the shield and in the process three Sisters whom Elaida had sent to capture Rand were stilled.  Remember me telling you that a Sister who is stilled often loses the will to live.

To me this is why Cersei's three children had to die.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  

The Battle of Dumai's Wells

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the idea’s of others.  Most believe that since I present my idea’s as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.